Tag: bible
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Hungers of body and spirit – Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 55:1-3; Psalm 144; Romans 8:35-39; Matthew 14:13-21 The crowds in today’s gospel had nothing to eat, but our Lord knew they had another hunger apart from that of the stomach. They followed Jesus, listening to every word he spoke, and in none of the stories does it say that they were bothered about food…
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Giving Us Time to Grow – Homily for Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Wisdom 12:13, 16-19, Psalm 85, Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 13:24-43 History is replete with the attempt to separate the bad guys from the good guys. And sometimes the distinction and the separation are based on ambiguous criteria. As well, there were people in Jesus’ time who wanted him to separate the bad guys from the good…
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My yoke is easy, and my burden is light – Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday, Year A
Readings: Zechariah 9:9-10, Psalm 144, Romans 8:9,11-13, Matthew 11:25-30 There are times when certain words of Jesus can almost sound like a joke. Especially if you are going through a rough patch—or a completely devastating one. In the middle of the storm, it’s so easy to lose our peace and feel like we’re totally finished.…
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The God who is always with us… Homily for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Readings: Jer 20, 10-13; Ps 68; Rom 5, 12-15; Mt 10, 26-33 On this twelfth Sunday of ordinary time, we celebrate Christ, Our Lord, who is always with us. He continues to deliver us from all that threatens and makes life difficult. This includes persecution, sins, and death. In the first reading, God delivered the…
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Homily for Palm Sunday, Year A
Finding Ourselves in the Passion Is 50: 4-7; Psalm 22; Phil 2:6-11; Matt 26:14-27:66 Today we begin the Most Holy Week. Palm Sunday ushers us into one of the most dramatic moments of the Christian year. We begin with celebration—palm branches waving, voices raised in hope—yet the liturgy quickly turns toward the stark narrative of Christ’s…
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Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A
I am the resurrection and the life Ezekiel 37:12-14, Psalm 129, Romans 8:8-11, John 11:1-45 We celebrate today the fifth Sunday of Lent, the last Sunday before the Holy Week, the most important week in Christendom, the week we celebrate the great mysteries of our faith: the passion, death and resurrection of Christ our savior.…
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Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A
Heal our blindness, Lord 1Sam 16:1. 6-13; Psalm 22; Eph 5:8-14; Jn 9:1-41 As an old and experienced judge who had studied how the first king (Saul) had failed, Samuel had his own ideas about whom God would choose. But God chose the most unlikely candidate, namely, David, the shepherd boy, the youngest son of Jesse. The…
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Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, Year A
Christ, the Source of Living Water Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 94; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4:5-42 To understand today’s readings and symbolism, we must first understand the liturgical meaning of these coming Sundays of Lent, that is, the 3rd, 4th and 5th. In the Early Church, the Church used the Lenten period to prepare the catechumens…
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Homily for the First Sunday of Lent, Year A
Our temptations Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7, Psalm 50, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11 Every year on the First Sunday of Lent, the Church leads us into the desert with Jesus. Not to frighten us. Not to overwhelm us. But to show us something essential: The temptations Jesus faced are the same temptations we face. And the way…
Fr. Valentine Umoh 